A Nine Tailed Adventure
by karli141
Summary: A Nine Tailed Adventure is a romantic love story with a bite. Rai and Canela are two misguided souls who come together in this cute and gripping story.


I skidded around the tree in the dark, suddenly blinded by a bright flash coming from the distance. My luminous golden eyes shone from the constant focus of the light upon myself. The fur on my back, tail, and chest shot straight up as the glow began to approach me slowly. The figure behind the brilliant light suddenly screamed, dropped the torch, and ran off yelling, "It's the demon fox! I've seen it with my own eyes!"

My many tails swayed back and forth, one over the other as all nine of them entwined each other. I bared my large, sharp teeth, and lowered my fur slowly as I approached the dim glowing object ahead.

I felt the demon inside me, peer behind at the tree I had just come around a moment ago. There, gleaming down, was a giant black bear – like creature. His eyes were the only things visible in this darkness. Then the voice rose, "what are you doing young fox?" he continued glaring at me, "you're supposed to be on a hunt, not stopping to take a break in this clearing!" I found the strength and stood up straight with my nine beautiful tails flailing behind. "I beg your pardon?" I scowled with a low growl. "I am hardly 'young,' and besides, I was curious at the scent of a young human alone in these woods." The creature glided toward me, laughing softly under his breath. "Continue on your hunt young fox, don't waste your time trying to explain your actions. "I sighed with relief and bolted down the first path I saw, leaving him in my tracks, but when I looked back, the bear – like creature had disappeared, and was no longer there. He had moved on.

I felt a sudden chill run down my spine as I slid to a stop in front of a large white wolf that had blocked the path. The blood red fur rose without warning along my paws, back, and tails.

There was a considerable amount of affection in his dark red eyes as he bent his neck down and licked around my ears and neck with his soft, cold tongue. My fur lowered and my ears lay on either side of my head. "Hi Rai." I couldn't control the amount of love in my voice. He snickered and raised his head once again, then raised one paw and placed it on my head. "How's your training going?" I shuddered, "w-w-well its going good, but I never realized that you were in the path, I just about ran into you!" He laughed, "I knew you were coming love, that's why I was here, and you know I can smell your beautiful aroma from literally two miles away." I could feel my face warm up, and he immediately commanded, "Now…get back to your training." I licked him behind his ear and ran off whipping him with two of my tails as I passed.

I thought to myself as I saw another figure in the tree ahead, -please let this be my target.- As I hoped, I jumped up into that tree with ease, and the figure disappeared. -This must be it!- I leapt forward after it, and the chase was on.

One after another each tree passed as quickly as I, and eventually I came to a clearing. There it was, a little black rabbit, just standing there on his hind feet watching me. I sensed another presence and just then, Rai appeared on the other branch grinning and baring his fangs as he said, "here is your test, you beat me to the rabbit and it's yours, but if you don't…" He paused for a second, staring deeply into my eyes, "you've got to start over and catch the owl."

I jumped to the same branch as him and stood on my hind feet, laying my front paws on his back. "I will win, I promise." I stretched my paws out and almost instantly pierced his back with them; I leapt out onto the field, the way that the rabbit had already started running at full throttle.

"Are you coming!?" I called back with excitement and bolted down the field relying on my senses to lead me to the rodent. As I ran into a large patch of overly grown grass, I stopped and stood on my hind legs, trying to see over it, while resting every one of my tails on the ground so they weren't noticeable.

"You shouldn't waste your time chasing, when you could just track." A snickering voice came from over the weeds, which was quite muffled like he had something in his mouth. I peered over my shoulder to him with wandering eyes; he had the rabbit, hanging from his teeth by his ears. "You're not being fair" I whined. He laughed under his breath and responded the best he could with a rabbit in his mouth. "Don't worry Hun, you pass the test." He walked casually up to me, lowered his head to mind, and let me twist my neck so I could grab the rodent myself from his teeth. Suddenly, from the far corner of the field, the big black, bear like creature stepped out and raced over on all fours. Within seconds he was in front of us. Almost immediately, all night of my tails sank to the ground. His voice roared, "I see you've completed the test." I nodded slowly, and Rai spoke up…finally. "She has done very well, let me take her with me to…train, I'll make sure she's ready for the next test." The creature nodded his head, and within seconds had shot to the other end of the field, then disappeared.

"Shall we go?" He asked in a curious tone. I again, nodded as we started across the field in the opposite direction; our tails wound together waving gracefully in the wind. Pressing our necks together as he groomed my ears and neck. "Mmm, so what do I have to do to get ready for the next test?" I asked, as we kept walking through the woods. He snickered softly and retorted, "You need to rest young fox, and we will start training in the morning.

We jumped immediately up in the tree ahead of us, our tails still wrapped. When we got to the top branch, I laid down on a big patch of leaves, as he did the same beside me and rested his tired head on my back. The rest of the night was cold, but I felt strangely comforted by having him so close by.

Morning soon came and by the time I woke up, Rai was already standing on the ground beneath me, waiting. He looked up and met my gaze. "So you're finally awake eh?" I felt my face warm up with admiration, and replied, "Yea, how long have you been standing there for?" He smiled, showing his glistening teeth, "for awhile." "Uhh huh." I sighed and leaped down from the tree, stretching my tails as I landed a few feet away from him. Rai took two large strides very casually, with all four paws, and licked down all the fur sticking up from my back, chewed the leaves, and pulled the twigs out of their tangled mess. "Why do you keep grooming me?" He silently laughed, "Because I love you, that's why." I smiled and nodded, my tails swaying slowly back and forth. "But you know, you don't have to…" "Why, you don't want me to?" "No, it's fine, I was just wondering is all." He smiled crookedly, like he was relieved to have heard me say that. "Anyways…" I exclaimed, trying to change the subject, "so what do I need for training today?" Rai started to wonder off, I followed. He started to run, I started to run; he started to speed up, so I chased after him.

All I could see was his radiant glint of silver rushing in and out of the trees as I chased after him. I rounded the next tree and there he was, I ran into him and we both flew forward, tumbling over each other until finally we slid to a stop, him on top of me, his paws on either side. "Err" He smiled sweetly and rolled off, tucking his tail in so it wouldn't scrape against anything. I rolled over, shaking my tails free of the gravel and thorns, I realized there was a very sharp pain in my foot and saw what appeared to be a large cut up my leg. "What's that on your leg?" He asked as Rai approached slowly. I turned quickly, tucking it under my chest. "Please, tell me?" His ears were now flat against his head, as he tried to hook his paw around it and pull my arm out in sight. A deep growl came from the bottom of my throat, he backed away. "It's nothing, just a minor cut." At this, Rai's ears folded tight back against his head, "let me help love," he approached again, minding the look of pain in my eyes. Once again he tried to wrap his paw around my injured arm, this time I released my arm and let him hold it out in sight. "Awe my poor girl." He exclaimed as he licked from my paw up my arm, and down again, soothing my skin and fur until the cut stopped hurting.

"Thank you." I told him while I winced in pain as he went over my sore with his cold tongue. He laughed softly and lifted his head once again and took a step back.

He immediately took a large stride that completely passed me and covered my body from whatever was approaching.

I peered over his shoulders and flinched immediately. "Get your head down!" Rai commanded in a very hoarse voice. I obediently listened and next thing I knew, I was crouching down slightly and my eyes were closed tight. His mouth curved up into a small grin, Rai positioned himself over and around me so that I was blocked from the luminous shadow that was slowly approaching us. "Stay back" He snarled with a slight tremble in his voice.

The shadow laughed darkly and continued with one more step, then stopped. It seemed like he was a few feet away, I lifted my head a little and glanced around Rai's neck. I yelped in pain as I felt teeth close around my neck sharply away from my beloved.

There was hardly any struggle as I felt my body getting weaker and weaker as I noticed a trail of blood following the trail where I had been dragged. There were growls coming from either side of me, I slowly tilted my head to the side and caught sight of the two very vicious looking wolves snarling and baring their teeth to each other. Every once in awhile Rai would glance my way to make sure I was keeping my eyes open so that I wouldn't doze off. I then closed my eyes for a second until I heard two very ferocious growls and then a yelp. Rai had thrown the monstrous wolf to the side and rushed over to me. He hung his head over me and started to whine at the sight of the blood that now surrounded my body. I felt him nudge my head gently with his, and lick my neck softly. My eyes opened suddenly at the sound of a second yelp, except this time it was Rai. I immediately rolled over to see what had happened, wincing from all the pain.

The black wolf had bitten his ankle, and was now chewing at it, while Rai was whimpering and barking.

My tails that were wrapped around me gave me enough confidence to stand up. So I did, I hobbled to my feet slowly and growled furiously in the wolf's direction. He perked his ears up suddenly and as I did, stood up and glared at me. "Be careful love, please…please don't' risk your life." As Rai begged, I looked down at him and stroked his back gently with three of my tails and responded. "Our lives were already at risk when he appeared Rai." He looked up at me in horror as I threw myself at the creature that now stood before me.

He grabbed my neck, sinking his teeth in deep, letting my body hang limp from his jaws. "No!" Rai yelled as he struggled with what strength he had left to get up. It was too late, the black wolf had sunk his teeth into my neck completely, and there was now blood replacing my shadow. He let me go and I dropped to his feet, unable to move. "My name is Kajin." The dark wolf exclaimed, as my blood dripped from his teeth until he licked them clean, still focusing on the weak silver wolf standing before him. "Why the hell would you kill her!?" Rai cried as he tried to take a step towards Kajin with what strength he had.

"She means a lot to you, doesn't she?" Kajin exclaimed. "You're going to pay for what you've done!" "Oh you think so…haven't you realized what bad shape you're in?! I bet you couldn't even hurt me if you tried." Kajin's eyes went from hate to friendly again as he picked me up by my neck and threw me over to Rai's feet, I yelped in pain as I felt my body hit the ground, I couldn't move my neck, and I was losing focus from of the amount of blood loss. Rai stepped over me and stood in front as if he were protecting. Kajin laughed and whipped his tail to the ground. "Why do you protect that petty nine tailed fox demon any way, you just don't make any sense Rai."

"You talk as though you know her better than I," He exclaimed with a slight smile. "That is because I do." Kajin snickered.

A look of horror now covered his face completely, as Rai stuttered, "w-w-what do you m-mean?" The black wolf took another step forward. "You know exactly what I mean," he bowed his head as he approached Rai even more until he was right in his face. "That can't be, I'm the one who has known and loved Canela for her entire life since a young fox, there is no way in hell that you could know her better than me!" That was all it took, Rai then suddenly collapsed and could hardly move. "You're pathetic." Kajin exclaimed as he coarsely laughed under his breath.

He turned around and disappeared into the shadows. Once Kajin was gone, Rai pulled me as close to him as possible with his tail, all nine of mine automatically wrapped around the both of us. He whispered, "I love you always," "I love you too." I answered with a great deal of passion. The night was cold, gloomy, and very silent.

In the morning I woke up with the still most beautifully silver haired wolf I'd ever met.

"What are you staring at?" He asked, as he rolled me on my back so that he was standing perfectly over me. I slowly closed my eyes, rolled over and rested my over my paws, mumbling, "oh nothing of any importance…" He then jumped up in front of me and laid down, his nose practically touching mine. "You sure? I know it's of some importance to me." He smiled, closed his eyes, and philandered with the hair between my ears. A low growl came from the back of my throat, but he kept playing, until he said. "You don't scare me love." I smiled and confessed, "Alright, I was staring at you…" I opened my eyes, only to realize that he was giving me a frustrated stare. "Why would you stare at me? --- when you're clearly the most beautiful here." My tails lay flat as I lifted my head above his. "You're…fascinating." My face warmed as I lay it back down.

There was a loud and awkward moment until Rai broke the silence. "How am I 'fascinating' exactly?" My paws curled over my nose and I hid my face, I mumbled. "You just are," at a volume only one could hear if they were as close as he was to me. "Well if you really think so …" "Of course." I interrupted, lifting my head back up at the sound of him giving in. He smiled, Rai seemed pleased. Yet strangely disapproving. Our tails entangled each other as we laid there for a very long moment, staring into each others motionless eyes. Within ten or fifteen minutes, we fell asleep for the rest of the day and night.

We awoke to our fur being soaking wet and little droplets of cold water running off our bodies. I stood up and shook my fur dry. I let my head wander from side to side until I met his gaze when I was looking up slightly. His eyes were a dark shade of gold, with a mixture of bronze which melted every thought in my head like they had never existed. I stared endlessly into his eyes without a single thought, however my eyes managed to escape Rai's gaze long enough for me to blurt out, "You're all muddy love," and giggled.

He smiled and laid down. "Looks like you made me lay in the mud then, because your fur is as beautiful as ever my sweet." I could feel the skin around my jaw heat up, so I immediately turned and gazed out into the forest. The rain felt nice; almost soothing enough to put me back to sleep. Instead Rai suddenly shook all his dirt off and it scattered all over me, along with the ground around us. "Hey watch it!" That made me snap back to reality. "Oops sorry love, I didn't mean to get you of all foxes dirty." He smiled and seemed rather sarcastic, standing there with his now gleaming fur, radiating by the sunlight, and staring at me with sorry eyes that instantly caught mine and didn't let them go for a second. "Hmm…I think the rain is finally letting up." I glanced away from him long enough to eye a lake just across the field. "I'm guessing you would like to go for a swim then?" He asked. I nodded my head urgently, hoping to get the dirt of my back as soon as possible before it dried. At that instant he was across the field and waiting for me at the water's edge, impatiently for me to catch up.

As soon as I was there, he bit my neck by the back, picked me up, and jumped into the water, making sure every inch of my so called 'beauty' was under. After he finally let me up, I swam to wear I could touch and waited for him to finish frolicking in the water like a pup. There was a cracking noise close by that sounded like sticks breaking in two. I felt a sharp pain in my two front feet, I yelped. Rai quickly swam over, peered under the water, and came back up, he stared into my pained eyes with his own that seemed hurt. He begged, "Please…please don't move love…please"

Just then, an alligator came snapping his large jaws as Rai was trying to kill it. There was a large splash, my lids opened only to find that he was no where in sight. "Rai! Love where are you?!" Across the lake some, there was a tail sticking out of the water. I swam over to him as fast as I could and pulled him to shore and up the bank. Wrapping all nine of my tails around him for warmth.

There was blood everywhere, his body, and now mine were drenched. His lids stayed shut, there was no response. Horror sunk through me as I though, "what if he's dead? I've got to save him." Sure enough, I licked his fur down so it was clean, but his head still lay limp. I stared in horror as I realized the bite marks in his neck, arms, and back that had come from the creature or creatures that had done this to him. Finally, after many strokes with my tails to wipe the blood away, Rai's eyes flickered open until they set upon me. "Are you alright?" I managed to choke it out from somewhere beneath my throat. He winced while trying to speak, but yelped instead as a shot of pain and blood rush washed through his body. I rested my head on his chest and closed my eyes. "Everything's going to be alright love, you're going to be just fine." I prayed hopelessly as I drifted into a deep slumber upon the one who I'd walk through fire for, or less dramatically walk from one side of the forest to the next to find. I could feel his heart beat against my cheek as a soft lullaby arose and put me to sleep.

The next morning we woke to the sounds of bluebirds chirping, and a cold wind blowing through the leaves that now covered both the ground and us in a blanket. Rai snarled as I stretched on him and pushed his arms to the side. "Hey watch where you put those things!" He shouted.

The wounds that were there last night had completely healed, and it was only then that I realized the scar under his neck was still there. "Careful" I growled as he pushed me off and got to his feet in one swift movement. "You're not hurt?" I was curious, I thought that he surely would've still been hurt after what my poor Rai had gone through. "No, I feel fine." He smiled. "But I'm still sore from having you lay on me all night." "Hey not fair. " I exclaimed. "I thought you were unconscious." "Oh, so you wouldn't have if I showed that I wasn't?" He teased. "Just shush." I turned away and started to wander off. "Awww come on love, be reasonable." I steadied my pace and waited for him to catch up. He was beside me, let's get something to eat, k?" I nodded and followed him to a patch of berries. We both ate our fair share of them, seeing as we hadn't eaten for a couple days now. When all of a sudden, Rai exclaimed. "These don't feel right love… I can't feel my paws anymore." I watched, frightened, as he collapsed to the ground and right away curled up --- like he was trying to hold back pain. All of a sudden, next thing I knew, I was on the ground as well, huddled up. The fur on my body was disappearing, and so were my paws. I felt skin…not fur, real skin starting to appear on my body. A moment later, there was no fur what so ever on any part, I felt my face…I didn't have a long nose anymore, instead I had a small nose that was close to my face. I felt the top of my head to check for my ears, but they weren't there! All there was, was this long smooth hair dangling from it. I felt the spot where my tails had been, but they weren't there either. I ran my hands down my body…I had real curves! Not just a gut and four joints off it, but some in the front, and some in the back and along my sides as well.

A thought came to my mind and turned my attention to Rai. My cheeks turned cherry red as I realized he was now naked, with no clothes, and only his beautiful olive skin glistening in the sunlight. I couldn't look away; he was even more beautiful now than he was a wolf. "Hey, cut it out will yea? I deserve privacy." "Oh, I'm uhh sorry." My eyes closed for a second until I opened them only to find this time, that he was staring at me. "Alright…I know why you were staring at me." He confessed, his attention still fixed on me. "But to tell you the truth…you're way more beautiful then you were a fox." I blushed, trying to shield my abdomen and chest areas from him with my hands.

"Well then." Rai was trying to gather himself. "How do we get out of this…predicament?" I crossed my legs to the side and wrapped one arm across my chest. "I don't know, maybe if we eat those berries again?" I suggested, still focused on how radiant his skin was. "Ok let's try it." He agreed and tossed me a couple. We ate them together but nothing happened. I sighed, "well…it looks like we're stuck like this." He immediately smiled and said, "So let's make the best of it." He wrapped his arms around me, sliding them up and down my body, feeling every curve and inch of my 'beautiful' skin. I spun around on the spot and slapped him across the face, "pervert." I pushed him away, "No love, let's focus on getting our canine bodies and senses back." He nodded, rubbing his cheek. "You didn't have to slap me." I just smiled and stood up.

For the next couple hours, we were trying our new legs out, wandering through the forest. "I guess we better try to fit in." I exclaimed. "How?" He wondered. I only said one word. "School." It took us hours to get out of that forest, because every time our canine senses told us to go a certain way, it pretty much every time ended up to be a dead end and the only way to go was up.

When we made our way out of the forest, we were wandering along a highway. "Outside the forest can be pretty dangerous." Rai exclaimed while he was casting glances at each car that drove by. I answered, "Yea, let's stick together k?" He nodded as he led me back into the woods. "There are people over there." I exclaimed as I pointed in the direction of a near-by hot spring. As luck would have it, the boy and the girl, who quite obviously skipped school, left their uniforms lying on a near-by branch. We snuck them easily, slipped them on, and headed for the school grounds across the highway. "Finally we have some suitable clothing." I sighed. "Let's just hurry and find a spell or something to change our bodies back, k?" Rai retorted as we walked through the lobby doors and into a bustling crowd.

"Hello, may I help you?" The receptionist called from across the room, as we walked through another pair of doors into the office. We glanced at one another, then Rai turned our attention to her, "yea, we're uh new here." "Right well can I get your names?" We were now standing at her desk. "My name's Canela, and his is Rai." "Beautiful name you've got." She grinned at me as Rai wrapped his arm around me. The receptionist printed out two sheets, one for each of us, and said, "Here are your daily classes, your locker combinations, and teachers. Now if you don't mind. "She pointed towards the door. "Yes, ma'am." He dragged me out of the office and down the hall to our lockers. Let's hope we can find a spell quickly and get our fur back." Rai exclaimed as he was opening his locker, which just happened to be right next to me. "Yea there are too many people here." I managed to get my locker open and place my ball of blood red fur in. "What you kept some of your fur?" He asked. "Yea, I kept some of yours too." I took his fur out of my pocket and put it in as well. "We may need it in order for the spell to work." He nodded and shut his locker. "Where to my love?" I smiled. "Library, we have to find that book." He took my hand and led me through the crowd and through the doors into the peaceful library. At this point, I quickly got to the 'old spell' section of the library, as Rai went to the history. We searched all morning until finally, "I found it!" He yelled out across the library. "Shhh!" The librarian pointed at a piece of paper which read, "LIBRARY RULES, no yelling, no food/drink, no screaming, no speaking loudly, no love making, no drawing in the books, and no horseplay." "Sorry ma'am." Rai apologized, she nodded and waved him to carry on. He came over to me in a blink of an eye and held out the page for me to see, it read. The mandrake berry grows in woodlands. Its color is purple, but they are very rare. When one eats this berry, they'll go through a series of changes throughout their body. "And in our case it just happens to be human." I added. We carried on with the book. The only way to get rid of this transformation is if you eat the blue berries, but they only ripen once every spring. We looked at each other, "love? What season is it?" He answered. "Well by the look of it…it's summer." I immediately sunk in my chair. "We've got to wait practically a whole other year." I whined. Rai put the book on the trolley and sat in a chair next to me. "It won't be that bad Hun, besides…I've got your magnificent body to entertain me." I blushed and looked at the librarian, who was giving us an irritated look. I turned my attention back to Rai; he was rubbing my inner thigh…I hoped to get him to stop, so I slapped him…again. "Love, behave, please." I now gave him an irritated look as he took his hand away. He sighed and got to his feet, "coming?" he asked as he helped me up from my cramped position. We headed for our first class together, but when we got there we were split up because there were two empty seats, but they were on opposite sides of the classroom, and no one would switch seats.

Our socials teacher kept going on about life history and such, but we didn't pay attention to any of it, instead, we were talking to each other through our minds.

"This is so boring love." I sighed. "I know, but we only have forty-five minutes left until our break … so you'll live." He smiled at me. I frowned and laid my head on my desk. A girl beside me poked my leg and whispered, "Hey, that guy across the room smiled at you … how do you two know each other? You know you two really look alike." I smiled. He's my … friend, we just moved here together." "Ohh ok." She looked at him as I thought to myself, "oh thank god he's not watching me." She turned her attention back to me and said, "he's kind of hot, mind if I …" I was telling him at the same moment to go along with this, he nodded; I knew he could hear us. "Sure, go for it, I don't mind." She smiled and turned her attention back to the lesson.

We were communicating through our minds again. "I don't mind love, let her try, you can refuse her after she asks." I paused, "Well tell her you'll get back to her and we can just ignore her from now on." He sighed. "I'll let her off easy so she won't be hurt … do you really think I'm hot?" I smiled. "Stick to the lesson love." He pouted silently.

With just five minutes left, Rai was starting to pack his books, the girl Melissa, was watching him.

After class, I went straight to my locker and left him and the girl alone, well not completely, I was listening to his thoughts, and every once in awhile tell him to stop looking out her chest. Rai let her off easy and left to come to me, then exclaimed. "Alright, I'll admit you are good at keeping me in-line." I smiled.

He lead me down the hall to the library and opened one of the doors for me, I walked straight to the shelf and then to the librarian. "Hi, may I take out this book please?" I handed her the book as she rang it through. "Don't bring it back late." She exclaimed as she handed it to me. I wondered if many kids from this school took the library's books and didn't bring them back that often.

"You coming?" Rai called from the other side of the library. "Shhh!" She yelled, and instructed me to get out before he made another sound.

We walked with haste to our next class, English. This time Rai and I were seated right beside each other, so we could communicate more easily this time…but still through our minds. "After this class should be the end of the school day," he told me. "K, then let's go out to the forest and.." I was interrupted by a boy who sat in the next seat in front of me. "Hi, I can see you two are new here." It looked like I was the only one he was actually talking to. "My name's David, what's yours?" "Canela." "And his?" He was looking at Rai with a sort of fearful look in his eyes. "His name's Rai." I smiled. He looked at David with a smile. The boy then turned his attention back at me and asked, "Would you like to go out Friday night?" "Sorry I've got plans." "Oh, ok…how bout next week then? I'll pay." I smiled. "Sure." He smiled back and turned around to face the teacher again.

Rai passed me a piece of paper saying, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING??" I replied. "I'm sorry love, I'll make something come up." I then passed it back. A few minutes later he passed the note back and it read, "Ok, do whatever you have to do, because I've got plans for that night." I wrote back, "Alright." And then at the bottom I put, "I love you?" Then passed it back. A few moments later he gave the note back, and on it said, "I love you too my dear fox." I smiled and stuck the note in my pocket.

Five minutes passed, then ten, and soon fifteen until the last bell rang for the end of the day.

As we were walking off the path into the woods, Melissa ran up to us and asked, "Where are you guys going?" Rai and I both looked at each other then he said, "We're going to the hot spring." I nodded and turned in that direction. "Oh ok, well I'll see you two at school tomorrow." We waved goodbye to her and started in the direction of the spring. "Are we really…?" I asked, grasping his hand in mine. "If you don't want to, we don't have to love." I nodded and carried on.

When we got to the spring, I went behind a tree and took off my clothes, then slid into the water when he wasn't looking. "Awe!" He groaned as he pulled down his pants and got in. "You made me miss seeing you naked!" I splashed hot water at his face and slid under so it was just my neck and the tips of my knees that were visible.

"Ok." He came over and sat beside me. "So what exactly are you planning this Friday?" I asked, leaning my head on his shoulder. "Not sure really, but it's going to be you and me." I smiled. "Alright, sounds good."

"I really do miss being a wolf and you a fox sometimes love." "Why's that?" "Cause I was able to lick you whenever I wanted." He grinned. "You're unbelievable." I sighed and got up, wandering to the opposite end, my full back facing him. "Come now Canela…" He got up and wrapped his arms around me from behind. I paused for a few seconds as I felt something cross over my feet. I immediately jumped into Rai's arms and wrapped my own around his neck. "Something slimy just swept over my feet!" He was laughing softly, as he walked back to our spot, still holding my body against his chest when he sat down. "Is that all you want? Is to be able to do things like that to me?" I whispered. He shook his head and held me tighter. "I want to be with you." Night soon fell, leaving reflections of moonlight on his olive skin, as Rai was now holding me in front of him in his lap. Massaging my shoulders tenderly.

"Mmm what a beautiful night." I exclaimed as I closed my eyes and laid back against him. He nodded. "I love you." Rai kissed the top of my head gently. "I love you too."

A few minutes later we got out and put our clothes back on and wandered through the forest for awhile. "Let's spend the night here." He led me towards the roots of a tree that formed a sort of bed.

I curled up against it, Rai soon followed and wrapped his arms around me, he rested his head on mine and we fell asleep. The night was cold and silent, the soft hoots of the nearby great horn created a soothing lullaby.

The next morning Canela woke up with a seemingly heavy thing on her. She poked his eyes and woke him up. "Oh, sorry love." He smiled and rolled up off me on one of the roots. "It's really cold out here." I exclaimed as I started to wander. "It's snow!" I looked down and noticed a bed of white blankets on the ground and trees. I bent down and cuffed handfuls of it, Rai shouted from behind me, "We should go back to school before we're late." He walked up behind me as I nodded and threw the snow at him, then took off through the field in the direction of our school. He chased after me and caught up just as I reached the school walls. "Foxes before wolves." He smiled, opening the door for me, I walked in and soon ran to my locker and my physics class. He was on my tail by the time I stepped through our classroom door.

The bell sounded as we were settling in our seats and opening our books. I whispered to him, "nice timing." He smiled and set his attention on our lesson, but still talking to me…silently. "I'm going to get you back after school my dear." "Nope, you're getting a face wash and you know it." I smirked quietly. "We'll have to wait and see I guess." Rai looked at me with a sort of sly smile. I was then worried, because whenever a wolf makes that kind of smile it usually means it's planning something vicious or mean. I smiled back weakly and laid my head to rest on my desk, preparing myself mentally for what he was planning.

The rest of the class was really boring, so boring that I practically fell asleep. He had to pat me four times as a result of me not paying attention. I honestly don't know how the professor could miss all the action that was happening around us, because he never raised his voice once; The next half hour went by quickly because all we did was sit and listen to the man up at the front talk all class, until the bell rang of course and the halls were immediately filled with laughter and voices in every direction. "Excuse me, pardon me." I said over and over again as more and more teenagers were crowding the path to our lockers. The rest of the day passed more quickly than I was used to, so much so that I was way too dizzy afterwards that Rai had to carry me across the field and through the woods, so that I wouldn't stumble over everything in sight.

Once we got to a tree he sat me down against it, "are you alright?" He had a slight smiled on his face, but his eyes were flooded with worry. I nodded slowly and leaned my head back against the bark. I felt Rai entangle his arms around me and glide into a gigantic wide open field where he then laid me down beside him. Within a matter of minutes I was back to normal and could finally see straight! "How are you feeling?" He asked. "Good." I sat up but felt a heavy strain on the back of my head; I slid a hand through my hair only to find clumps of snow and grass. "Ehh … love?" Rai looked at me and laughed. "Nice hair," "Thanks…" I shook my head and let all the snow fall to the ground. "I told you that I'd get you back." He said as he pushed me back into the snow. "And I told you that you'd get a face wash." I sat up, leaning back on my arms. He paused; "you're right …" Rai stood up and took a step away from me. I leapt to my feet and tackled him to the ground, sitting on his back as I pushed his face deep into the snow. "Alright love, you've had your fun." He turned over, held my hands in his and sat up so our noses were just inches apart. He stuck his hand in his frozen back pocket and brought out two berries. "But love, the berries have to be in season or ripe …" "They are, I stole some from a market in case you wanted to change back now." I sighed and grabbed them from his hand, the berries crumbled in my hands. "These aren't real …" "Oh … well you can leave them here then." He stood up and dragged me to my feet. "Alright … but you don't seem too thrilled." Rai looked at me with hurt eyes and stopped. "I'm getting tired of these bodies … I want my wolf back, I want to feel your nine soft tails brush up against me as we run through the trees." That made me flinch. I missed that too… he made me realize how much of my past life I actually wanted to have. "I know … I miss that too. I'm also really getting tired of these clothes." I exclaimed as I brushed the snow off my skirt. He smiled slightly and wrapped his arms around me, "we'll make it to next spring and get our canine bodies back." I nodded, but as soon as I brought my head back up it felt heavy as a shot of pain coursed through my skull. The next thing I knew I was collapsed on the ground, clutching my head screeching as loud as I can. With Rai kneeling over me, "what's wrong?!" He was frightened as he held me close to him with shaking hands. "My head … I can feel them." He pushed my hands off my head immediately and spread my hair away. "Your ears, they're appearing!" I clenched my head again, feeling them rise from my hair and then suddenly stop. The pain still stung as I ran my hands up and down my ears. "Why now?" "I don't know love." Rai sighed as he brushed my large blood red ears gently. "You're very cute love." He smiled and rubbed the sides of my ears softly, making me purr. I covered my ears and swatted his hands away. "Stop!" "But you're adorable with ears" He whined as he reached for them again. I swatted his hand away again, laying my ears against my hair.

"What are we going to do about school? I have to hide these." I twitched my ears. "Well what senses do you have?" He pulled one of my ears to get me to stop playing with them. "Ok … I've got my hearing back love."

He thought about that for a couple minutes. "Well we can sneak into the school tomorrow and take a hat from the lost and found." I nodded. "We can go in early." "Yeah, hopefully there won't be much people in the halls." He exclaimed.

We snuggled together under a tree for the rest of the night, preparing for the next morning. We woke up bright and early, raced across the field and ran through the school. Rai pulled the bin open, reached for the first hat he saw and planted it on my head. "There." He finalized as he tucked one of my ears in the hat. "The Cubs?" "It's the first I saw love," "Oh, ok." I turned around and walked right into a crowd of people. "Hey wait up!" Rai called from behind me as he grabbed my wrist. I pulled him through the crowd, down the hall and to our lockers. "I'm glad they allow hats in this school." He nodded, "you have to keep that hat on until we get back into the forest." I closed my eyes, "alright."

We ran to our next class and got our seats in the back of the class again, behind Melissa. She jumped from her seat and gave me a hug; she was still kind of frightened of Rai so stayed away from him. "Hey, what's with the hat?" She reached for it as I swatted her away; what's with me and swatting, geesh; "Sorry I can't take it off, it's my mothers." She took her hand away, "ok, sorry." "It's alright." We sat down and studied for the up coming test on the last day before Christmas break.

There was a bit of a distraction on my part, seeing as I had a steady voice in my head. "We should probably get into the library at lunch break and read up on how long the red berries have effect for, because it's only been just over a month and as we can see, you're starting to turn back quickly." "K, but remember love, you should start changing pretty quickly so we should be very quick before you do." I looked across the room at him and saw him nod.

The rest of the class was the usual, Melissa kept talking about Rai and how much she had hoped that he would've went out with her. The same lectures that the teacher gave every time she wanted us to understand something. Rai heaved a sigh of relief as the bell rang for our break. He gathered me in his arms and led me to our lockers down the hall, "put your books away and come to the library." He glided down the hallway. I put my books in my locker and closed it, only to find David standing there. "Hey, so you're open for Friday night?" He asked. "No sorry, I've got a doctors appointment." I tried to sound as sorry and sincere as I could. "Oh…ok." I gave him a hug and apologized, then fast walked down the hall towards the library. The old door creaked as I opened it and stepped in, Rai was on the chairs we always sat in and the book open in his lap. "Come here love." He whispered as he patted the seat next to him.

"It says that its effect lasts 2 months." We looked at each other, "I have to get out of school love," my voice was hoarse. "This will be my last day." "But…" "No, you can come to school a couple more days love…" Rai interrupted, "no, I'll be there with you when you go through another transformation." "Fine, we'll both quit school, but don't tell anyone." He nodded and pulled me to my feet. "Let's leave here now love," "what?" "Yea, I want to enjoy these bodies before we lose them." I smiled, "alright, but no funny business." He pulled me through the library doors, across the lobby, and out the main doors.

My hat flew off my head as we raced each other across the field, the wind blowing through my ears felt like old times, when we used to race on all fours across the luscious green forest. When Rai and I got to the forests' edge, he led me in and to the hot spring. "This is what you had in mind?" I asked. He nodded, "yeah, go get undressed; it won't be very comfortable when you've got your nine tails love." I sighed, went behind the nearest tree and took my clothes off, then slid in without him noticing.

"Aw! Come on, you did it again." He came in and sat next to me again. "Is that all you care about?" I stood up, "no, but I do care about you." He wrapped his arms around my lower waist and pulled me back, sitting me on his lap. I leaned my head back on his shoulder, "what are we going to do once you start changing?" He sighed, "I'll stay out here then." "Weren't you going to already?" I asked. He nodded. "Then I'll be here when you do." I exclaimed as I sat up in his lap. "Ok." Rai sounded a bit surprised, but stood up anyways. He climbed out of the steam and pulled his clothes back on and helped me out without a word. I struggled while getting the clothes on because he was suddenly acting very differently.

I asked "what's the matter?" He looked at me in amusement and replied, "I've got my sight back. It was true, his eyes had gone back to being their original shades of gold and around the pupil, green. They melted my gaze and held it, until I finally found the strength to look away and think of something a little more intelligible. "I've still got that over you eh?" He smiled, his teeth glistening. I nodded self consciously. He laughed darkly, "This is going to be fun." I glared at him and looked away quickly to keep my concentration on the subject. "So you're starting to change back now to?" He nodded. I wrapped my arms around him and whispered, "It's going to be painful when you get your ears or tail back." "I know," He stroked my ears gently and continued, "but if you can get through it, I'm sure I can." I lifted my head just enough to meet his eyes, they were filled with concern. "I just hope you'll be alright when you're changing and acquiring your nine tails." I winced at the thought of that, "I'll get through it." I smiled. My ears flattened against my hair as I heard something behind us.

Rai's voice broke out in a growing sound as he hissed, "Kajin." He glared at the black wolf that now had to be just about my waist height and pacing from sided to side in front of us.

"Well, well, well, isn't this a precious surprise." A low growl came from the bottom of my throat. "Calm…calm." Rai whispered in my ear as he himself was snarling at the bear-like wolf in front of him. "How is it? Being human and all." He snickered. I grinned, "It's actually really fun." He laughed and turned his attention on Rai. "And for you? What has it been like?" Rai looked down at me, then the water, and then back down to Kajin. "I think I've enjoyed it, but as you can see…" I twitched my ears. "We're slowly turning back into our old selves."

Kajin sat down facing us with curious eyes, I could see our conflict was disappearing so I slid out of the white wolf's arms and stood beside him soon after. "You shouldn't have done that." Kajin warned, while he stood again and this time pacing around us. I could feel Rai's hard, concerned eyes on me as I stood perfectly still. Frozen.

There was a mere silence until I found the strength and spoke up. "And why not? You wouldn't attack..." Rai covered my mouth with his hand and wouldn't move it no matter how many times I bit it. He exclaimed, "What she means to say is why would you attack us when we're humans. Why not wait a few weeks till we're a wolf and a fox again." I gave him an irritated look from under his hand, and then I bit him one last time, good and hard. He immediately pulled his hand away and placed it on the spot right between my ears. I sighed. The black wolf stopped in front of me, "but you're so weak." His golden eyes were fixed on me. "Back off!" Rai growled, taking a step in front of me. "No." Kajin grinned, all of his magnificent teeth gleaming. "You know she's hard to resist, but what I want to know is how can you be with her for so long?"

Rai turned his attention to me, his expression was hurt and seemed regretful. He spoke, "because I love her and will do anything to keep such a fox safe." Kajin scowled, "she has been our pray for twenty years, but yet you feel you can fall in love with her." My face was not drained of all sympathy and only held shock. "Looks as though you haven't told her any of this…" Rai interrupted, "shut up! I quit that, years ago, so why are you bringing it up now?" Perfect timing…They both looked at me as I was suddenly writhing in pain on the ground screaming at the top of my lungs. I opened my eyes only to find both Rai and Kajin standing over me, one worried and one dangerous. My spine felt like it was splitting as shots of pain coursed through me menacingly.

I could feel my tails growing off my lower back as I ran my shaking hand over them. Pretty soon after I had two of my tails, I was crying in pain as they didn't stop and kept growing.

Kajin stuck his paw over my mouth as my eyes grew wide, "well that was getting annoying." He exclaimed as Rai pushed his paw away.

Just then another two of my tails grew out of me and left me yelping in pain, I rolled away from Kajin and into Rai. My hand reached his and he grabbed hold, knowing what I wanted and whispered, "I'm here."

My eyes were full with moisture as I writhed in pain again, letting our grip slide as the fifth, sixth, and seventh tails grew out of me. I told myself over and over again to not give up but now it felt like I was fading from light.

There were suddenly loud growls and then a yelp to finish it, I could then hear the voice of an angel calling my name. "Canela! Canela! Open your eyes, are you alright?" My eyes crept open to find him standing over me, stroking every one of my nine tails gently "Are you alright?" He asked again in a calmer state now that he knew I was functioning. I nodded and tilted my head to the side, letting my eyes wander. "Kajin?!" Rai looked back at him too with a hurt expression painted all over his face, and pleaded, "I'm sorry, he was trying to kill you and I stopped him." He sighed, "For good."

We both looked at each other for a second, he took my delicate face in his hands as I lay there and closed the distance between our heads until our noses were barely touching. "I will never let anything or anyone hurt you, for as long as I live." He whispered.

Rai released his hands as his lips brushed along my collarbone and to my chin. His breath was a cool breeze against my skin as he spoke, "understand?" I nodded. My lips parted as he slid his own along them, he smiled. "Looking for something?" I nodded slowly as he gently pressed his lips to mine, leaving me breathless as he pulled away. "Don't worry, I will never leave you." He was on all fours over me now, my tails lay flat as did I, lost in his gaze unable to move. Suddenly, I could feel his arms around me and realized I was the one on him. He held me close as we both closed our eyes. I tucked my arms into my body as I lay on him when I whispered, "I love you." "Love you too." We were both asleep under the moonlit sky then.

The next couple days were boring and senseless, Rai kept suggesting we go for a race but then we realized we barely had the muscle we had before and knowing we have less balance we'd most likely run into a tree.

Until one morning when that all changed, luckily for him he slept through it, I never knew Rai slept so heavily. I woke up on my favorite giant white wolf, his paws were wrapped around me and hind legs spread apart, our tails intertwined. I brushed his ears off from the excess fur left on them. I smiled as he opened his eyes and licked my neck, "I knew you'd do that sooner or later." He laughed, "Sorry I was tempted." Rai rolled me off and looked at my body. "You're still half human." He sighed.

I bent over on all fours like a fox and stuck my tails up. "There." He snickered while he glided over and pushed me down. "See, no balance." I smiled, and pulled him down with me, "but awesome reflexes." I retorted.

For the next couple hours or so we wandered the forest side by side, searching for something to do. I rested my hand on his fur and every so often I'd gently stroke his ears, "your fur is very soft." I said as I quickly pulled my hand away from his teeth.

"Anyways, so what was that about me being your pray." I glanced down at him worried, only to see a pained expression in his eyes as he slowly shook his head. "Yes, tell me." I commanded. He heaved a deep sigh and responded. "What seems like millennia ago, Kajin and I were partners in a hunting expedition. Our main pray were nine tailed foxes such as you." He paused and searched my face for any kind of hate or disgust, but when he didn't find any, he continued. "We were assigned to kill a mother and her pups … it was said that she wouldn't be able to take care of any of them on her own, so we were told to end them all." His voice trailed off, his expression was suddenly replaced by traces of regret. "Please, carry on." I was determined to find out what happened. He continued. "I had a much better sense of smell then he did, so when he wasn't paying attention, I quickly snuck off to your family." He paused as he found the trace of horror across my face.

We were now sitting down in the shade, me against a tree, and he was laying on the grass. "My family?" My voice shook as I asked. Rai nodded and kept going, "I came to your family and lead you away from there." He smiled. "You were the fastest and most playful one there, anyways I lead you guys away deeper into the forest. Your mom didn't make it, she was too weak from having all 4 of you so I kept you as my own. I couldn't resist, you guys were adorable, and I must admit." He sighed. "I had a weak spot for you." I grinned. "That's because I was so adorable, right?" "Wrong." He retorted. "I couldn't let you guys get killed by Kajin, I couldn't bare it, the though of killing such a delicate animal. So I took you to hide out in an old hollowed out log and left you there thinking you were safe." His voice trailed off again as he cringed and continued. "Kajin found you and chased your brothers and sisters down, until eventually he caught up to them. I quickly grabbed you and ran as fast as I could, I ran for days and days just to keep you safe. And ever since then he and I have been enemies, but now that he's dead we can finally be together." He smiled hopefully, hoping that I wouldn't get up and leave because of that story. "Of course I'll stay." I read his expression carefully. "Thank you for our past then." He smiled slightly, stood up, and leaped over to me, curling up at my legs. Rai's gaze wandered to my eyes as he exclaimed, "Your eyes, they're back." I smiled, I found that I could see a lot more clearly now, "feels like it."

His eyes left mine and followed my body down to my feet with a look of concern. "I hope you change fully back when you're asleep like I was, I don't want to see you go through anymore pain. It hurt.." I stopped him by cuffing my hand around his mouth, letting him lick it. "I have a feeling it'll happen in the next couple days, but we'll have to wait and see. He nodded as he closed his eyes and continued to lick my hand completely. I giggled, "Tasty love?" He nodded, "you're delicious." I pulled my hand away as he showed his teeth "don't ruin your appetite Rai." I got up, walked over to a near by berry bush and picked some. The berries kept on falling out of my arms as I carried them back to the tree. He was laughing when I got back because I had berry juice all over my feet. "Here." I placed the berries on the ground in front of him and sat back against the tree. "Don't you want any?" He asked as he took another mouthful and swallowed. "No it's alright," I smiled. "I think I'm just going to go sit on the edge of the spring over there for now and clean my feet." I motioned toward the hot spring a couple yards away.

Once he was done with the berries, Rai came over and sat beside me. He sighed and laid down, hanging one paw in the steamy water, "I already miss not being able to sit in here with you, and feeling your tender body against mine." I sighed and lay sideways, resting my head on his back. "There's a lot we're going to miss but you can't always get what you want." "I've already got all I could ever want." He mumbled as he got up, knocking me to the ground. "You." He licked all over my neck making me blush and have to roll over to escape his tongue, he bent his head down my back, licking up my back under my shirt until I rolled back over. "No." My face was stern. "Alright I was just having fun." He laughed and nudged me with his nose to my feet.

"Sure you were" I said as I played with the hair just behind his ears. "I was." He pleaded as I walked through the forest.

Rai was at my feet in seconds, he asked, "if you could have one wish, what would it be?" I looked at him for a couple minutes and said, "For you to be human for at least 5 more minutes." His expression turned to sadness as he turned his head away. "I would if I could, you know that." He peered up at me. I nodded once and stroked his ear softly, "at least I'll be my old fox soon."

Our tails were linked together as we wandered across the field; the birds were singing their morning tunes and the soft whistle of the wind in the trees soothed this moment. I took a deep breath and played with my ears for something to do, Rai snickered. "What are you doing?" "Mmm nothing." I smiled. We were sitting under a beautifully blossomed tree, him at my feet staring up at me as I continued down to my tails and started playing with them. "You're unusually happy my dear." He exclaimed. "But strangely beautiful with leaves in your hair." I paused, "what?" and began quickly running my fingers through my hair roughly, trying to get all the debris out. "I was just kidding." I heaved a deep sigh and leaned back against the tree, "you're annoying."

My tails created a blanket over me as I snuggled against the tree, pulling my feet away from Rai. His voice sounded, "Again, what are you doing?" I closed my eyes, "nothing." And fell asleep in the cool shade of the tree. I felt his breath on my neck when I opened my eyes to sunlight.

Rai was leaning against me, with his face in my hair. I nudged him awake as I slid out from under him, he grinned, "sorry." And went to lie back down under a near-by bush. He mumbled, "I'm going to be away for awhile, I need to finish something." "For how long?" I questioned him with a curious look on my face. "A week or so…" He paused, watching the sadness wash through me. I began to fall forward but Rai was there to catch me before I hit the ground. He soothed me, "It's going to be fine, and I'll be back as soon as I can." I nodded as he held my head close and gently as he could, like I was the most fragile object in the universe.

I whispered, "Be safe." As he released his grip and disappeared into the forest. I wandered the forest for hours, trying to find a point for staying in this area. My feet carried me to the hot spring where we had spent our first moment as humans together.

"Why am I here?" I pondered on that thought for a very long time, while I wandered around the spring. "He'll be fine, I don't need to worry, and Rai won't be reckless." "I'm fine." His face floated in my mind. My heart fluttered in an instant, almost sending me into the spring. I caught myself in time, standing on the edge on my toes, struggling for balance. I took a seat on the edge of the water, laid back, and closed my eyes.

There was fire everywhere, burning anything in its path. Rai was in the distance, surrounded by flares, trapped. "Rai!" His eyes flashed to mine, only a hint of worry painted on his face. He smirked. "Don't come any closer." My feet kept pulling me closer to him, relentless to stop. He snarled, "I told you to stop!" I paused, horror washing over me. He was telling me to stay away from him…to stop and disappear…to leave him. Tears flooded my eyes as I fell to my knees in the fiery madness. Rai approached me and bit my neck, causing it to bleed. I was losing my vision slowly, he whispered, "leave, and don't ever come back." My eyes filled with shock as I felt the unconsciousness rush through me; I felt my body hit the ground with a thud that finished the process of knocking me unconscious.

I woke up to a constant silent voice in my head telling me over and over again, "stay calm, stay calm, I'm alright." It cheered me up some, and enabled me to get to my feet in time before I fell into the steaming water.

My feet carried me through the woods, back to the tree line. The school was now very clearly in sight. I took one step towards it, but when I saw Melissa, the girl that liked Rai, come out of the front entrance and look at me with her beady blue eyes. I quickly and ever so swiftly, jumped back behind a bush. My tails still flailed above me so I had to tuck them around me to keep my full self hidden.

"Canela!? Is that you?" I guess she could recognize me after all…shit! I tried to growl, to lessen her steps towards me but nothing worked, she didn't cease. "Canela, please come out." The girl paused, "why are you hiding…?" This time, I responded." Melissa…you're my good friend right?" She answered, "Yes." "Well can I trust you with something?" Melissa paused. "Yes, of course." I smiled. "Alright then I want to show you something." His voice echoed in my mind. "This isn't a good idea!" Ignoring him, I stood up out of the bush. My tails swinging behind me, my ears perked up though they still had leaves in them, so I quickly fluffed them.

"Y-y-you're a…fox?!" I nodded slowly. "You're adorable!" She screamed as she ran towards me. "Shhh." I hissed as she knocked me to the ground. "Oh, umm sorry." She rolled off and sat beside me. I grinned, "Rai's a wolf." Melissa's eyes lit up as she looked at me. "So that's why you two are so incredibly beautiful." She paused again, and stuttered. "You two are…werewolves." I nodded. "Well I'm what some could call a were fox." We both laughed.

"So what about the full moon and changing…" "Myth." "And you eat humans?" Her expression was frightened. "That's a myth too." I mused. "So, you're not…dangerous?" She gulped. "Well do I look dangerous to you?" "No, but…" "But nothing, we're not dangerous to humans, we don't transform every full moon, and you don't have to be afraid of us." I kept my voice as soft as I could, though I was growing very agitated. Melissa nodded.

"Rai…where is he?" She searched the trees and bushes all around me furiously. "He's left for awhile." "Where'd he go?" "I don't know, he just told me that he'd be back in six or seven days, so I should see him a couple days from now." "And is he… like you?" "What do you mean?" She looked a little disturbed at what was on her mind, so I told her, "You can ask me anything you know." She nodded.

"Is he half human, or a full wolf…?" "He's full wolf, lucky for him he got to change back when he was asleep, and barely conscious enough to feel the pain of transformation." "There's pain?" Melissa flinched at the thought of having a tail or ears growing out of her body. By now we were sitting up in a tree on a branch, I had pulled her up with me.

I nodded. "I'm a bit scared myself, because just getting my nine tails." I stroked them. "And these ears." They twitched. "Hurt a lot more than I thought it would." "Oh." --- A flash of alarm crossed her face as Melissa exclaimed, "I'm going to be late, my mom's expecting me home for dinner!" I grinned, my fangs glistening in the sunlight, and said, "Alright, go have dinner, I'll talk to you another time." She nodded. "Bye Canela!" Melissa jumped down from the branch and ran down the road. I sighed; it was nice to talk to someone again. And then it hit me, I was alone, Rai wasn't there.

A stick broke; I peered down and noticed a white tail disappear under the bushes. Waves of excitement swept over me and almost sent me tumbling down the tree. "R-r-Rai?" I whispered. A voice sounded behind me, "How could you be so sure it was me?" His voice was soothing, so soothing that I closed my eyes and laid back. He grinned and quickly lay down behind me as a pillow. "Careful, I'm not a human anymore you know." I nodded. "Your back early, what happened?"

"Well actually I've been here for quite awhile, I was watching you and Melissa." I stared at his paws, almost dazed being able to hear his voice again, but then I snapped back… "What do you mean you were watching us? You could've come out you know." He tilted his head just enough to see the expression on my face. "But I'm sure I would've scared her, being a wolf and all."

I wondered if he knew that I had told her just about everything about us… and him.

"So um … what were you two talking about anyways?" He asked, curious. So he hadn't known about our conversation, phew.

"Well …" I rolled on my back and closed my eyes. "Nothing really, I just asked her how school was going and all that." I paused. "Oh yea, and she asked about you." I looked over at him, his face was bare, no expression what-so-ever. He asked, "What'd you tell her?" I quickly searched my mind for a logical answer. "That you had gone away on a trip and that you told me you'd be back in six or seven days." Rai smiled, "oh really now." He raised an eyebrow. I nodded. "And did you miss me while I was 'on my trip'?" "Yeah of course." My lips curved down into a frown, "but I was worried about whether or not I'd transform while you were gone." "Well I'm glad you didn't." He exclaimed as he got to his feet, bit my shirt and pulled me to my own in one swift movement.

For the rest of the day we wandered through the forest and fields, talking about our past and the near future. Soon after that it was beginning to get dark, so we found shelter under a willow and fell asleep … until sometime in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep, I got a really strong shot of pain that coursed through me. Rai heard my screams and was at my side in less than a second. "What's wrong?!" His voice was frightened. He whined frequently throughout that moment until he slowly backed away because I was flailing around in the gravel. Hair began growing all over my body, my bone structure was changing, and my entire human appearance was disappearing quickly before his eyes.

I could feel my fangs and jaw reforming within my mouth and lips. My nose changed into the small black, triangle shape that it rightfully used to be. My fingers were disappearing and turning to stubs out of what were now my paws. My legs became shorter, and my thighs slowly tucked into my hips. The disks in my spine reformed to configure the rest of my body like a dogs'. I could hear Rai's worried voice in the back of my head, "Canela! Canela! Are you alright?!" I shook my head as much as I could, then all of a sudden my entire body changed dramatically.

The forest went dark, I could see nothing. Teeth suddenly took hold of my neck; I could feel my tails being dragged across the rough gravel along the ground. "Please be alright…" I heard his voice over and over again, until I heard him growl. "Rai, it's me ... Melissa." Her voice was of an angel's. I opened my eyes slightly, only to see her kneeling over me, frantically searching my body for cuts or scars. "I'm fine." My voice came out a little more strained then I wanted it to.

I stretched and stood up, my eyes wandered to Rai, who was now beside me. "Didn't I tell you I told her about us?" He grinned sheepishly. I then turned my attention back to Melissa. "Who's your friend?"

A tall, strong looking boy stood beside her, not sure whether to approach us anymore or not. He had deep blue eyes, dark brown hair, and had a well fit body structure. "Oh, this is Berni." She pulled him up beside her. Rai, who was up to his elbows, smiled. "Nice to meet you Berni." "Thank you, you too." "He's my cousin, his mom and my mom wanted to get together so I brought him out here to meet you guys." I smiled kindly. "Well I guess we've reached a predicament." Rai exclaimed as he stood by me, still as a statue. I, being my cheerful self in those types of situations, suggested. "Why don't we go for a walk?" "Sounds like a good idea…" Melissa commented as she grabbed Berni's hand and pulled him through the forest and bushes.

Rai wandered along side me, as silent as the night wind. His movements were swift, but much quicker than I could've managed. "Enjoying your stay so far?" He asked. "Yeah, it's interesting here." Berni replied. I noticed a blink of fear in his eyes and said, "You don't have to be afraid …" I paused. "Melissa? Didn't you tell your cousin that we don't eat people?" Rai shot me a surprised look. "Well … no." She replied her voice was unsteady. "I'm sorry." Rai turned his attention back to them and grinned. He had told me that he wouldn't do anything harsh. "It's fine, don't be sorry." "Behave my dear," I whispered in his ear. He slowly nodded as we continued through a meadow.

"Hey! Let's go for a swim!" Melissa shouted as she ran towards a somewhat familiar pool of water. We recognized it at an instant and I jumped up in front of her. "Why not?" She pouted. "Because …" Rai and Berni wandered up behind her. "That … has crocodiles in it. I wouldn't want to see something like that happen to a human, especially you."

I was shocked … Rai only usually acted or talked that way around me, never around humans. "Oh …" She paused, blushing. I suggested, "Let's go find something else to do k?" She nodded, exclaiming excitedly. "But I want to ride on your back this time." Rai cocked an eyebrow in my direction and grinned, he was telling me that we could take advantage and have fun with this chance.

"Sure." I said, confident I could do it without knocking her off. "Yay!" She leapt onto my back, holding onto the tuffs on the back of my neck. "Rai?" "Hm?" He searched my face and turned his eyes on Berni. "Would you like to go for a ride?" "Sure." He shrugged as he climbed on his back.

We were off in a blink of an eye, wind blowing through my tails and ears. It felt like old times … exhilarating. Melissa didn't release her grip on me once; all she really did was hold on as tightly as she could. I looked over beside me at Rai, who looked like he was having a blast. "You ok Berni?" Trees were rushing past us as I yelled at him. "Yea, I'm fine!" He was sitting upright on Rai, looking very comfortable, like he was a natural.

The wolf turned his head around slowly, "Berni?" "Yeah?" "You look like a natural at riding a wolf." He smirked, "Yes Rai I ride wolves all the time." Rai turned his head back, only to find my tails in his face.

"Canela!" He said as I started laughing when I called behind, "Race yea." "You're on!" He galloped up beside me, watching Melissa. "Hold on to Canela, we're about to speed up." Her eyes went wide immediately as she nodded. "Yea." Her hands tightened considerably around my neck, it would've choked a normal fox half to death.

We stopped suddenly, perched on two branches side by side. He counted down, "3 … 2 …" "Rai," I interrupted. "What love?" "Hold on for a sec." He nodded slowly. "Melissa." "Hm? What?" "Release your grip, please." She looked down and froze. "N-n-no thank y-you." I sighed, curled my tails around her like a cradle and pried her arms away. My tails wrapped around her carefully, holding her in place. "Feel safe?" "Yes, thank you Canela." I nodded, looked back at Rai and met his gaze. "K, let's start this thing." I snarled. He repeated, "3 … 2 … 1" We were off, wind blowing past us at great speeds, trees passing the faster we ran.

I could hear Berni whistling in amusement, "This is a blast!" Rai was laughing aloud, he just about ran into a tree. "Watch where you're going big guy." I grinned as Melissa said that. "You've got someone on your back, remember." I exclaimed. "Yes ma'am." He said as he jumped up ahead of me. For the next couple minutes it carried on like that. I would jump ahead of him, and then he'd come and brush past me and jump ahead, until he stopped at the edge of a cliff. I just about ran into him but managed to stop just before his tail. It was sundown. "Wow, this day went quick." Melissa exclaimed as she slowly sat up.

Rai and I were rubbing our necks together, trying to brush the leaves and thorns out. "Yeah." Berni yawned. "That was fun." I grinned, "Have fun my dear?" I turned my attention to the girl on my back. "Of course." She paused. "You're a very smooth runner." "Thank you." The skin around my jaw grew warm.

"Well …" Rai heaved a sigh. "Let's get going, Miss Fox needs to get some sleep." He smiled, licking my neck. "Oh get a room you two." Berni laughed. I blushed again, "Want us to take you two back?" I decided to change the subject. "Sure, unless you guys want to be alone." Berni teased. "Ok, you guys can go home by yourselves then." Rai exclaimed as he was still licking up and down my neck. "No." I objected, "We'll take you guys back together." My wolf sighed, "Alright then we better get going," he turned around and jumped back into the trees in one swift movement. By the time I got up, he was already halfway across the forest. "Awww, come on Rai." I whined as he kept moving.

Minutes later I caught up to him, across the forest at the edge of the highway. "Good night you two." He exclaimed as Melissa and Berni climbed off our backs. She whispered in my ear, "good luck." I nodded slowly, "goodnight." Her footsteps disappeared into the night.

"Alright, now can we talk?" Rai asked, he sounded irritated. "Is that all you wanted to do?" I asked, as we turned around and wandered back into our home, tails entwined. He grinned, cocked an eyebrow and bit my neck. "Well?" I asked. He nodded. "Mmk." He pulled me up into the tree we just passed and laid down. "Go to sleep my dear, you need it." He whispered as his eyes closed. I lay down beside him and wrapped my tails around myself. "Welcome home Rai." "Thank you." The rest of the night was peaceful and quiet.

The next morning I woke up on the ground, my tails were scattered all over. Rai was about 20 feet above me on a bed of leaves, snickering. "How'd you get down there?" I glared up at him as I got to my feet. He frowned, "Aw don't be like that." I grinned and got ready to pounce at him. His ears went back as Rai watched me curiously. My body sprang into the bush he was in and caught his tail in my mouth. "Get off!" He yelled as I barely held onto his fur. "Mm no." I growled. "Fine," He exclaimed as Rai turned around and bit one of my tails. I released his tail instantaneously and whimpered. "Owww." He let go of my helpless tail and said, "I'm sorry love."

The next thing I knew I had laid down under him, and was getting licked all over. "You're very dirty." Exclaimed Rai, as he continued licking it off. "You're the one that pushed me down there." I accused, as I tilted my head facing the ground. "Yep." He snarled and rolled me on my back, so quick that I didn't have time to react fast enough.

Rai was standing over me with a playful expression painted on his face that slowly changed to a frown as he realized I wasn't going to do anything.

And that I did, I just lay there limp. "Ok, I come back and you act like you don't care." He paused. "What the hell is wrong?" There was a fury in his eyes, it scared me. My eyes began to fill with tears, but I had to hide it, so I turned my head. Rai's face softened, he appeared to regret what he had just done. "I'm sorry." He whispered, caressing my cheek with his own. I rolled on my side under him, wishing I wasn't there.

Rai whined as he saw the sadness wash over me. I had never been yelled at like that by anyone, and I thought he, my love, surely would never … "Please don't cry," he begged. "Please." "I …" My voice stopped, I couldn't move my jaw, but managed to choke it out. "I haven't had any time! Do you really think I wouldn't want to spend time with you?!" His eyes were fixed on mine as I turned my head. "I'm sorry." I crawled out from under him. "That's not good enough." There was fear in my eyes as tears dropped down my cheeks and off my jaw. My body swirled around as I leapt away from him, as fast as I could. His howl filled my ears as I heard many more coming from all directions. Shit … I thought to myself, how I would get out of here before they caught me. I sensed them all gathering with Rai and him telling them to follow my scent. At that moment I knew they were on my trail, so I quickened my leaps.

My adrenaline rushed, "he's not going to hurt me, why would he?" It felt like I was running for hours on end. By the sounds of their howls I figured it was his two brothers, his sister who didn't really like me that much, and a lot of their friends. I shivered. The forest was like a never ending maze, trees everywhere, just waiting for me to not pay attention and run into them.

I ran for hours on end, constantly watching my back. There would never be a sure thought that they had left me alone or not, because I could turn my head and they'd be there, but when it turned again there were no wolves in sight. I paused on a branch, nearly a hundred feet off the ground. Moments later Akina stopped on the branch next to me.

Her fur was a rusty brown, with red around her mane, ears, and tail. Her eyes were an emerald green with a slight shade of violet. She spoke with a dark voice, "Canela, stop running, Rai didn't mean to upset you!"

I glared at her and snarled. "Then why would he assume that I didn't want to spend time with him?!" By now, Rai's two prowling brothers Kyo and Shukoku had caught up with the rest of their group. "Just listen to us. Rai would never want to hurt or upset you on purpose." Exclaimed Kyo. I heaved a sigh as Shukoku pointed out, "He loves you, and to him … You're like his own personal angel. Rai wouldn't and won't ever want to spoil your relationship." At that second, as if he had taken a queue, Rai leapt out from a bush and stood by his brothers and sister. His long white fur glistened in the streams of light that shown through the trees above.

Kyo was totally black from head to toe, with a small white spot on his chest. His eyes were an emerald blue that searched my face for something he could say. Shukoku was a brilliant gray wolf with black around his paws and down his spine. All four siblings were so beautiful; no doubt Rai would be too. I was dazed.

"Canela?" Rai's voice was suddenly so close to me, he sounded worried. "Canela? Are you alright?" He was licking my cheek.

My tails wrapped around the branch. I snapped back, shaking my head violently. "Yea I'm fine, I'm sorry Rai." The side of his mouth curled upwards slightly, "don't be sorry love." Shukoku hid a snicker with a cough as Akina asked, "Would you like us to come with you two?" We looked at each other; she was being sincere, though I wasn't sure that it wasn't an act for her brother. "No thank you." Rai politely said as he now sat at my side. "Alright, let's head back then." Kyo exclaimed, like he was in a hurry.

"Thanks you guys." Rai exclaimed as he twisted around, pulling me with him. Not a minute later we were flying through the trees, wind was blowing through my tails and swirling around my ears. I could hear Akina behind us howl, and then they all split up. Later that night when we were laying together under the large oak at the edge of the spring, Rai whispered in my ear. "I'm sorry Canela; I won't ever do that again." "Don't worry about it, I still love you."

The next morning was unusually warm, it was spring. Birds were singing their morning songs and the last of the ice had melted away to hide until next winter. Rai yawned, stretching his paws over me; again, he was on top of me. "Why do we always wake up like this in spring?" I questioned, while thinking of how I'd get out of this if he wouldn't himself. A smile stretched across his face as Rai licked my nose gently. "I don't know. Must be your fault." He nudged me softly. "I'm not the one laying on me now am I?" I exclaimed as I leapt to my feet, pushing him off. We wandered till we came to the old hot spring. He sighed, "I kind of wish we were still humans." We watched our reflections in the water below. They changed to our old selves, me medium height with long brown hair, crystal blue eyes, and long and slender. Rai saw himself, tall, beautiful long white hair, emerald green eyes, and a muscular body that would fill any girls' fantasy. I smiled when they morphed back to our wolves, "I know, I miss it too." He then turned me around and down the path. This area was strangely memorable, berry bushes were everywhere, ivy growing on which ever tree you looked at, and there were all kinds of beautiful flowers.

"Would you like to try that kind of life again?" Rai turned to me, his golden eyes smoldering. "I don't know …" I paused and forced my head to turn away. "Consider this." He sat beside me. "We'll be able to go sit in that spring again, we'll be able to lie together like we used to." He turned his eyes on me again, full force. "You'll be able to see and feel my olive and so called "tempting" body again." I could feel the skin on my cheeks heat up as I quickly closed my eyes. Rai snickered, "So do you want to or not my dear?" I paused and nodded slowly. "But what about the pain?!" "Pain _shmain_." He exclaimed as Rai grabbed a couple berries from one of the bushes. "The more berries, the longer we'll be changed." I smiled slightly and swallowed a couple of the light blue colored berries. He took them too and moments later, we were both, once again, writhing on the ground. This time our transformation took twice as long and hurt twice as much.

By the time we were both laying motionless, side by side on the ground. It felt like a new day, we were changed once again, no fur covered my body and I had curves again. He had his olive colored skin and muscular body.

From that day on, we knew our lives would never be the same, our bodies were completely tainted, but there was something different about this time around of hell. Something strange, something full of resentment and risk coursing through our veins.


End file.
